Faustino Asprilla
Faustino Asprilla scored nine Premier League goals for Newcastle in two years. That's not much, and it doesn't matter at all. He arrived in a snowstorm in a fur coat, celebrated with somersaults, and on one September night at St James' Park he scored a hat-trick against Barcelona.
- Clubs
- Cúcuta Deportivo, Atlético Nacional, Parma, Newcastle United, Palmeiras, Fluminense, Atlante, Universidad de Chile, Estudiantes and others
- Premier League
- 48 appearances, 9 goals
- Honours
- UEFA Cup 1995 and 1999, European Cup Winners' Cup 1993 and Coppa Italia 1999 (all with Parma)
- International
- 57 Colombia caps, 20 goals
- Fantasy price
- £6.5m in 1995/96
How he arrived
In February 1996 Kevin Keegan's Newcastle were top of the league and looking for the final piece. They paid Parma £6.7m for a Colombian forward who'd already won the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup in Italy. He signed at St James' Park in a snowstorm, wearing a full-length fur coat, and the photographs did the rest.
His debut came on 10 February at Middlesbrough. He came off the bench with Newcastle a goal down and set up the equaliser in a 2-1 win. It looked like the start of something.
It was more complicated than that. Newcastle's lead disappeared over the next two months, and Asprilla has carried some of the blame ever since for unbalancing a side that had been winning without him. He scored three league goals that spring. One was the goal that put Newcastle 3-2 up at Anfield in April: Rob Lee played him through and he finished with the outside of his right boot. Liverpool scored twice more, and that 4-3 became one of the most famous games the Premier League has had.
The moment: Barcelona, 17 September 1997
By the autumn of 1997 Keegan had gone, and so hadLes Ferdinand andDavid Ginola. Alan Shearer was injured. Newcastle's first ever Champions League match, against Barcelona at St James' Park, was left to the man some blamed for the title slipping away.
After 22 minutes Ruud Hesp brought him down and Asprilla scored the penalty himself. He still insists it wasn't a dive. On the half hour Keith Gillespie got past Sergi and crossed, and Asprilla headed in. Four minutes after half-time Rob Lee found Gillespie, Gillespie beat Sergi again, and Asprilla rose again. Three goals, 35,274 people, and Barcelona taken apart on Tyneside.
Luis Enrique and Luís Figo made the last 20 minutes nervous, but Newcastle held on to win 3-2. Asprilla later called it "one of the best nights of my career". It's hard to imagine anyone who was there disagreeing.
Why the streets won't forget
Because the numbers were never the point. Nine goals in 48 Premier League games is a squad player's return. Nine in 11 European matches is something else entirely, and it tells you what kind of player he was: give him a big night and a full stadium and he came alive.
Nobody in English football looked like him, all long limbs, flicks and changes of pace, and nobody celebrated like him either. The somersault, then the double fist pump. Against Metz in the UEFA Cup he took his shirt off and swung it from the corner flag, which earned him a yellow card and a suspension for Newcastle's next European match, against Monaco. It was daft, and it was exactly why people loved him.
You can argue for ever about whether he cost Newcastle the 1996 title. Nobody argues about the night he beat Barcelona.
Where is he now
Newcastle sold him back to Parma for £6m in early 1998. What followed was a long tour of the Americas, taking in Palmeiras, Fluminense, Atlante in Mexico, Universidad de Chile and Estudiantes among others.
The strangest chapter came in August 2002, when Darlington paraded him in front of their fans before a match and expected him to sign a two-year deal. He stalled on his medical and reportedly flew to the Middle East instead. The chairman, George Reynolds, complained that he didn't have "the decency to say goodbye".
He officially retired in July 2009 after a farewell match in Medellín. Since then he has appeared on Colombian reality TV, including Desafío 2005, and in 2014 it emerged that he was launching a range of flavoured condoms in Colombia. As retirements go, it's about as Asprilla as it gets.
He hasn't forgotten Tyneside, and Tyneside hasn't forgotten him. He was back at St James' Park in January 2011, walking out at half-time during a match against Tottenham, and in September 2013 he played in Steve Harper's testimonial against an AC Milan side.
Which seasons can you draft him in?
Want him up front in your retro fantasy football team? He's £6.5m in1995/96.
Draft a squad from 1995/96